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The first Business Connectsevent of 2018 is coming up next week, hosted by the Antigonish Chamber of Commerce. The theme will be “Environmental Sustainability in Antigonish” with presentations from ACE and from Nicole Haverkort of Eastern Region Solid Waste Management.

Since its formation in 2014, Antigonish Community Energy has been bringing citizens, businesses and institutions together from across the community to plan how we get and use energy. We held two large public fora, in 2014 and 2015, to discuss a variety of topics related to sustainable energy. This early work led to the formation of the ACE Cooperative in 2015, a separate initiative that promotes solar electricity installations throughout the county and beyond. Since then we have hosted speakers, convened brainstorming sessions, established study groups, and presented our ideas to a variety of stakeholder groups throughout Antigonish Town and County.

A piece of advice we often hear is that our informal (unregistered) status may signal a lack of serious, long-term commitment, and that this may prevent some stakeholders from participating more fully in our efforts. It also makes it more difficult for us to demonstrate financial accountability and to receive financial support from some sources. We have now taken this advice to heart and have clearance from the Nova Scotia Registry of Joint Stock Companies to register as an association. Formally, we will be known as the Antigonish Community Energy Association but will continue to operate simply as ACE. We are now in the process of recruiting a board of directors and are drafting a charter that reflects our existing mission statement, guiding principles and vision.

We will meet on Thursday November 23, 2017, 7:00 to 8:30 pm at the People’s Place (The Community Room, Antigonish Town & County Library, 283 Main Street) when we will propose our board and charter. This will also be an opportunity for members and stakeholders to learn more about our ideas for evaluating potential energy projects and to suggest projects to consider. All are welcome to join us for this inaugural meeting.

The last ACE meeting on February 7 was devoted to designing a process for Community Energy Planning, drawing on the Community Energy Strategic Planning (CESP) guidelines as our primary resource. A smaller group continues to work between meetings to complete a draft process to be presented, discussed and revised by the larger ACE group on March 7. The intended outcomes and recommended preparation for the next meeting therefore remain the same:

Intended Outcomes: 1) A rough plan for the entire process (including guidelines and other resources to tap at each stage) with the first steps mapped out in more detail. 2) Actions, timelines and division of responsibilities for the first steps.

Recommended Preparation: Familiarity with the CESP guidelines and some knowledge of other resources that may add value.

Planning the plan. After reviewing several existing guidelines for Community Energy Planning (see Resources>Guides) we decided to use the Community Energy Strategic Planning (CESP) guidelines as our primary resource. However, to design a process that reflects our unique situation, we need to select the most relevant elements of the CESP process, add elements from other guidelines, and integrate these into a coherent whole.

Intended Outcomes: 1) A rough plan for the entire process (including guidelines and other resources to tap at each stage) with the first steps mapped out in more detail. 2) Actions, timelines and division of responsibilities for the first steps.

Recommended Preparation: Familiarity with the CESP guidelines and some knowledge of other resources that may add value.